SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
NASA NEWS
2:30 a.m. CDT Tuesday, Sept. 19. 2006
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
09.19.06
STATUS REPORT: STS-115-20
STS-115 MCC Status Report #20
A space-age conference call linked three orbiting crews early Tuesday.
Three people aboard the Soyuz TMA 9 talked with the six Atlantis
astronauts and the three-man Expedition 13 crew aboard the International
Space Station.
The linkup was managed through Houston's Mission Control Center. The 12
people on the three very different space vehicles began their chat about
2 a.m. CDT.
"It's a little crowded in the sky today," said Jeff Williams from the
station. "We look forward to having you guys on board," he told the
Soyuz crew. "We'll see you back on Earth sometime soon," Atlantis
Commander Brent Jett told Expedition 13.
The Expedition 13 crew, Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineers
Williams and Thomas Reiter, is awaiting the arrival of Expedition 14,
Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin. With
them is spaceflight participant Anousheh Ansari. They are scheduled to
dock with the station at 12:24 a.m. Wednesday.
Atlantis' crew, Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and Mission Specialists Joe
Tanner, Dan Burbank, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve MacLean, is
getting ready to come home, with a landing scheduled for Kennedy Space
Center at 4:59 a.m. CDT Wednesday.
They were awakened at 9:15 p.m. Monday with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”
(Don’t Leave Without Me) for MacLean, performed by fellow Canadian
Celine Dion. They checked out Atlantis' flight control surfaces and
later tested reaction control system thrusters. Today they'll continue
stowage activities and other preparations for their landing.
The unpiloted Progress 21 cargo spacecraft with its load of station
discards undocked from the orbiting laboratory at about 7:30 p.m.
Monday. It re-entered the atmosphere and was incinerated over the
Pacific Ocean about 11 p.m.
The next STS-115 mission status report will be issued Tuesday afternoon,
or earlier if events warrant.